Sometimes It's Too Easy To Fall In Love
by 11Dancer14
Summary: Six independent short stories about James Vega and Steve Cortez inspired by six words from a random word generator. Spoilers for the end of Mass Effect 3, non-specfic Shepard or Shepard relationships. Fluff, and tiny bit of Angst and Slash!


**A/N: Ok, so first time ever writing Mass Effect, idk how it turned out, I don't think I used the word "manhole" properly but whatever...anyway, no flames, constructive crictism always welcome! (BTW, if you haven't caught on, it's SLASH)**

**Disclaimer: Do not own Mass Effect, Bioware does!**

* * *

**Ships**

Steve's glad he took the Commander's advice, the ships are calming him down in a way he hasn't been in forever. He watches them go by, his mind instantly categorizing the ships into make, type and reason for being on the Citadel. It's also quiet, Dock 1 mostly being used for military ships. He isn't expecting any company, the Commander having already visited, offering words of comfort and pointing out the outdated Alliance cruiser.

So Steve's completely taken by surprise when James appears next to him. Not known for sneaking up on people, the big man looks worried about something. He's also not known for being quiet. Yet James is totally silent, leaned against the rail, his arm brushing against Steve's.

"So Esteban, you finally decide to take some shore leave and you don't tell me?" The bigger man finally breaks the silence.

"Why Mr. Vega I didn't know you were curious." Steve teases, turning to face James. "You were in the room when me and the Commander were talking after all."

James laughs, his chest rumbling as he catches his breath. Shaking his head the marine turns back to face the window, gently turning Steve too. He pauses, his hand on Steve's shoulder before squeezing gently.

"Isn't that a Asari frigate?" James points towards an incoming ship, his eyebrows scrunched together. "You ever seen one of those Esteban?"

"It's Asari make, that's for sure." Steve pauses, looking closer at the ship. "But I'd say it's Citadel defense, see how there's barely any damage?"

James nods, his dog tags moving up and down. He looks over at Steve for a moment, as if he was going to ask something before changing his mind. He instead chooses to bump Steve's shoulder gently and continue to look at the incoming ships.

It's quiet for a while, until Steve spots a Turian strike shuttle limping into the docks. It turns into a little game, stretches of silence only broken by the arrival of a new ship. Steve enjoys it, it's been too long since he's felt so relaxed. He reaches across James, pointing at the now docked ship the Commander had pointed out.

"See that one? It's a retired frigate, some refugees got it working and used it to escape the Reapers." Steve smiles as he goes into detail, describing the functions and when it was retired.

"I like it, old but sturdy, kinda like the Mako, which is the best ground vehicle ever." James smirks, once again facing Steve.

"No way Mr. Vega, the Hammerhead is obviously superior, the Mako is barely able to move at any speed beyond a crawl!" Steve's grinning, crossing his arms as he dares the other man to come up with a answer.

"Well you should ask the Commander, the old Normandy had one!" James attempts to keep a straight face but he ends up laughing about thirty seconds into it. "Come on Esteban, how about we get something to eat? I know this amazing ramen place on the Presidium..."

"Lead the way Mr. Vega." Steve grins at James before they both look back at the ships slowly making their way into the docks.

"Come on, Esteban, let's go." James says quietly, his face framed by the shadows. They both turn around and walk towards the elevators, their silhouettes mixing together, forming a shadow over the approaching ships.

* * *

**King**

"Hand them over gentleman." The old mercenary smirked as he collected the money, putting them in his growing pile. "New round?"

"Hell yes, I've gotta win back my money!" James laughs, leaning back in his chair. "Hey Scars, you want to join us for a few rounds?"

Garrus pauses, staring at the table as if it had somehow personally offended him. Then he laughed, walking over and settling into the chair on the mercenary's left. "Someone's gotta keep Massani honest."

"I'll have you know Garrus, that I never cheated Grunt during our games." Zaeed smirks, tossing a hundred credits into the pile. "Or Jack, what a interesting woman, whatever happened to her?"

"You never cheated Grunt Massani, because he was a giant, confused krogan. And we all know what happens when Krogan get confused." Garrus makes a gun with his fingers and fires it. "As for Jack...we all know she cheated you first so she doesn't count."

Zaeed lets out a loud laugh, slapping his hand on the table. Instead of shooting the turian, as most of the table suspected he would, he slapped him on the back. "Haven't lost your sense of humor, unlike the rest of the damn galaxy."

"Would someone just deal the cards?" A refugee shakes his head when the mercenary turns his gaze on him. "Blackjack this round?"

"Ah, a classic, you sure you know how to play this one Garrus?" Zaeed smirks as Garrus glares at him. "That's right, I made five hundred credits last time we played."

Despite Garrus and Zaeed's arguing the game starts. James gets twelve the first time and goes over the second. They're playing a third round when he notices Steve sitting in one of the nearby seats, quietly watching the game.

"Esteban! I didn't notice you were here!" James' grin disappears as he takes in Steve's face. "Hey, you doing all right?"

"Course I am Mr. Vega, shouldn't you be focusing on your game?" Although the words are teasing, there's a blanket of sadness covering the pilot.

Shit, he's really stupid. The memorial wall is on Dock 2. Not to mention the Commander had just been down here, he should know, gambling's always awkward when the Commander walks by. Which means Steve's been at the wall, probably honoring his dead husband.

"You going to make a move Vega?" Zaeed growls out, tapping his hand impatiently on the steel table.

"Nah, I'm out, only got a nine anyway." The marine places his cards face down on the table. "Esteban, want to go watch the ships with me?"

Steve doesn't say anything, instead he nods his head before getting up silently. But it's the way he stays close to James as they leave that makes him know he has made the right choice.

"Well, I'll be damned..." Zaeed shakes his head as he tosses down James' cards. "Would ya look at this Garrus?"

A ace of clubs and a king of hearts stared back up at them.

* * *

**Section**

There's five floors of the Normandy, and those five floors are divided into several sections. There's Shepard's cabin, which contained nothing but several species of dying fish. Then there's the Command Center, which has the War Room, the Galaxy Map and the pilot/navigation area. After that you've got the Crew's quarters, which had everything from Life Support to the bathrooms. On the fourth floor you've got engineering, where you've got the engineer core, starboard and port side storage rooms, and the below storage space. Then finally, you've got the Shuttle Bay.

Steve's never been in Shepard's cabin, and judging by the small amount time the Commander actually does spend in there, doesn't know if he wants to. It's not like the Commander's not nice, it's just that Steve prefers that the visits happen outside of the semi-abandoned cabin.

Rarely does he visit the Command Center. There really isn't any need for him too, EDI tells him everything he needs to know through the ship's speaker system. Plus if he's not careful him and Joker will end up discussing ships for hours, not to mention that everyone's always so busy, running around on the lookout for Reapers. So he mostly avoids the Command Center. Steve also avoids the War Room. Right now the Quarian Admirals are there, all on computers and omni tools, cranky because of the geth resistance on Rannoch. Even if they weren't there, however, Steve probably still wouldn't have gone in. It's the unofficial area for politicians and if there's one type of person, human or not, that Steve doesn't understand it's politicians.

Then you get to the Crew's Quarters. Steve ventures up there more than the Command Center but still not often. Usually he'll go up for meals, or when Dr. Chakwas requires a physical. (For him or James, the marine refusing to go of his own free will) Other times he'll go up late at night, when he's unable to fall asleep. He'll sneak into the Port Observation Deck and sit on floor wrapped in a blanket as he watches the stars float by.

The fourth floor's engineering and unlike the previous two Steve can count on one hand how many people are down there. There's Allers, the news reporter. She's settled into the starboard cargo bay nicely, and you can almost always hear her talking to her camera. Then there's just emptiness. The Port Cargo bay is empty, only thing remaining is a large crack on the window. Donnelly, Daniels and Adams are all located in the engine's core. The change between the core and the rest of the floor is astonishing. The one section is almost always filled with conversation, Donnelly's Scottish ascent standing out.

Finally, you get to the Shuttle Bay. Although there's occasionally a few others around, most of the time it's Steve and James. James usually makes lunch, claiming that the food in the gallery "is so gross not even the geth would eat it" and now Steve actually prefers his food, although he'd never admit it to James, the man's got a big enough head as it is. It's also quiet, and Steve feels secure in the silence. Every once in a while one of them will make conversation and it's nice, relaxed and natural. Sometimes it's enough to make Steve forget, if only for a little while. Down there, he's able to forget about the Reapers, about Earth and most importantly, about Robert.

"Esteban? What you doing in this section of the ship at night?" Steve turns around to see James sleepily looking down at him. "Move on over a bit, I brought some churros with me to keep us company."

* * *

**Manhole**

There's a giant manhole where part of the asari temple use to be. The commander's half fallen down it already and that's not the worst of the mission. They have no radio contact with the Normandy and Liara's desperately trying to see if there's anything left on the beacon while Shepard's angrily firing into the air, the harsh sounds of the thermal clips hitting the temple's floor jarring James from his thoughts.

James' sitting at the edge of manhole, his legs dangling over the sides. The last radio contact they had was right before Shepard fell, right before the fight with Kai Leng. He hears Shepard curse, the sounds of a helmet hitting the floor echo loudly. The crackling sound of radio fills the room, the desperate voice of the asari commando from before hitting them like a ton of bricks. Liara lets out a soft sob, her face crumpling as she slides to the floor.

Shepard is at her side in seconds, pulling the asari into tight hug as she begins to quietly cry. The Commander looks over at James, indicating for him to get the radio working. He slowly gets up, feeling as if he weighed a million pounds. He picks the helmet up and messes with it a little, desperately hoping for some contact.

"Commander? Commander? Can you read me? James? Liara? Anyone-" Cortez's voice comes in through the helmet, it's scratchy but damn if it isn't the sweetest sound in the entire world.

"Esteban, it's me, we're in the temple, we need evac, the Reapers are pushing in on our location." James hears Steve's deep inhale and he rushes to continue. "The Commander almost fell down a manhole made by that crazy Cerberus assassin but Liara managed to grab on before the Commander became a flattened pancake in the temple's basement. Liara's-"

"Are you all right?" Steve interrupts him and the connection may be scratchy but James is pretty sure he hears worry in the pilot's voice.

James breathes out slowly, cradling the helmet in his arms like a baby. He's not okay, he can feel a dull pain in his ribs and judging by the swelling of Liara's ankle she's not in better shape. Thessia's crumbling around them and he can hear the Reapers clawing through the rubble outside and if he knows that if they don't get evac soon they'll be all over them. He hears Cortez repeating the question, his voice growing more frantic by the second.

"Esteban, Esteban..." He repeats slowly, struggling to find the right words. "I'm fine, few bumps and bruises, nothing I can't handle. We're in the temple, where the giant asari stature is...well, was. We need evac, the Reapers are closing in on our location."

"Right, on it. Be there in five minute, sit tight Mr. Vega." Relief clouds Steve's voice, and James can hear the comforting noise of the shuttle through Shepard's helmet.

"Commander! The shuttle's heading this way!" James calls over, cradling the helmet closer to his chest.

The commander nods in agreement, helping Liara to her feet. She hisses slightly as she tries to put weight on her right foot, confirming James' suspicion. James steps in and grabs her other arm. Together he, Shepard and Liara hobbled towards the entrance, James holding his pistol in his right hand. The shuttle comes roaring into the temple, stopping in front of the trio. The door opens with a hiss, the Commander and James helping Liara into the shuttle. The door closes as the shuttle takes off into the air. James makes sure Liara's settled down before he slips into the co-pilot's seat.

"Nice timing Esteban, couldn't have made it-ow!" James rubs his arm as he looks at Steve confused. "What the hell?"

"Don't you ever scare me like that!" Steve snaps, maneuvering the shuttle out of Thessia's atmosphere.

Steve nearly jumps out of his skin when he feels a hand on his neck. He keeps his eyes focused on what's in front of him, he's spent too many hours in the pilots seat to be distracted. Yet it feels nice, and he doesn't protest when James' hand stays put.

"Don't worry Esteban, I'm not going anywhere." James whispers in his ear, his hand squeezing gently. "I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

**Iceberg**

"So, shore leave's coming up, you gonna spend it gambling?" Steve's sitting on James' weapons table, twirling a model of the Normandy between his fingers.

"Nah, I was actually thinking about spending it with you Esteban," James drops down from the pullup bar. "That is, unless you got plans?"

Steve's quiet for a moment, shocked into silence. He must have been just sitting there for a while though, because James comes over, looking concerned. Steve smiles at the worried look on the marine's face before pulling him close.

"Course I want to spend it with you." Steve tentatively meets James' eyes, suddenly nervous despite being the one who pulled James close. "So, you got any plans or is this a make it up as we go along kinda shore leave?"

"Course I got plans Esteban!" The marine laughed, placing his hands on the table behind Steve. "It's a surprise, you gotta trust me."

Steve laughs along with James, resting his head against the other man's shoulder. He feels happy, happier than he's been in a really, really long time. His hands flutter nervously around before settling on James' sides. He feels James' chest rising and falling, his dog tags rustling back and forth. Steve doesn't know what this is, what they are but he knows that at least on his part, he wants it to be something special.

Steve feels James shuffle a little closer, standing in between his legs. The bigger man's hands move from the table to Steve's back, running them up and down his spine slowly. Steve gets that tingly feeling in his stomach, one he hadn't gotten since Robert. Steve lifts his head off of James' shoulder and they make eye contact, and James' face is getting closer and closer to his and Steve is leaning in and he can feel James' breath on his face...and Steve hears the elevator ding.

"Hey Vega, Steve! I brought you a iceberg salad!" The Commander walks into the shuttle bay, waving a takeout container. "It's your favorite right?"

* * *

**Entrance**

"Come on Esteban, let's go!" James tugs impatiently at Steve's wrist. "You promised you'd trust me on this one!"

"Trusting you does not include allowing you to blindfold me!" Steve argued back, stubbornly staying where he was. "Not to mention, Mr. Vega, you haven't told me where we're going."

"So? That's what makes it fun!" James protested, tugging once more at Steve's wrist. "Come on, you'll like it, and I won't let you fall, I promise!"

"Fine...but if I die then it's all on you!" Steve slowly takes a step forward, tripping over an uneven sidewalk. "Ow! Didn't you say you wouldn't let me fall?"

"You didn't give me the chance to say anything!" James defended himself, gently grabbing Steve by his elbow. "Come on, we're almost to the elevator."

James smiles to himself when Steve doesn't say anything anymore, just relaxes into the marine's hold. James leads the other man into the elevator, typing in the code the Commander gave him. The elevator slowly starts to move, dinging as it passes every floor. James sighs, relaxing against the back of the elevator. Steve follows, and James pulls him up against him.

"Okay Esteban, you can take the blindfold off." Steve pulls it off, looking around before realizing they were still in the elevator. "All right, you ready now Esteban?"

Steve smiles slightly, nodding his head. The elevator comes to a stop, and as the doors slide open they reveal a small observatory. It was a small room, located somewhere on the top edges of the Citadel. Surrounded by circular glass, you could see the stars and the entrance to the Citadel sparkling.

"Oh wow..." Steve murmurs, stepping out to stare at the sight. "This is amazing, look at that nebula, isn't it so beautiful?"

James nodded, walking out beside Steve. The stars are glowing down at the them and as it always does, they make James feel small. They stand there for a while, taking in all the stars. While Steve spends the time staring out at the stars, James spends it staring at him. In the beginning, he hadn't expected it to end up like this. Steve had been struggling to get over Robert, and James himself had demons in his past that he had to deal with. Now though, he had worked through most of his issues (granted the Commander and their daily sparring helped with that) and had found himself falling for the pilot.

"James? You with me?" Steve asked, and the other man was briefly shocked by him using his real name. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

"Sorry Esteban, was spaced." James smiled apologetically at the pilot. "I'll listen this time, I prom-"

James stumbled back slightly as the smaller man practically threw himself into his arms. He felt Steve wrap himself around him like an octopus, his face tucked into James' neck. Before James could ask what exactly had brought this about, he feels something wet on his neck.

"Esteban, it's okay..." James murmurs softly, tightening his grip on the other man. "It's all right, I'm here..."

"But that's just it," Steve whispers into James' neck and before he can feel hurt the other man continues talking. "You're here now but what if something happens to you? Back on Thessia I was so worried and the thought of you bleeding out somewhere was-"

Now it was James' turn to interrupt. Pulling Steve closer seemed impossible, but somehow he did it. He gently pulls Steve's head from his neck and before the other man can say anything, James is kissing him as if his life depended on it.

It's soft, with James tightening his arms around Steve even more. His tongue runs gently along the other man's lips, gaining access almost instantly. James feels Steve's hands on his chest, tracing unknown patterns and suddenly their tongues meet and damn he can't help but groan. James somehow ends up pressing Steve up against the entrance to the observatory, his hands rubbing circles onto Steve's hips. Steve's hands leave his chest to cup his face. They break apart, their breaths mingling in the air as they stare at each other.

"I'm not looking for some one night stand." Steve looks James right in the eye, seriousness radiating out of them. "I think I'm in love with you and if that's a problem then-"

"Esteban, shut up." James smirks, leaning in and kisses the surprised pilot deeply. "I may not be the best at expressing the sentimental things but...I love you too you know?"

Steve's eyes get real wide after he says that, and right as James thinks maybe he went too fast, maybe should have stuck 'I think' in front of that sentence, the smaller man kisses him feverishly. Steve's arms wrap themselves around James' neck, his tongue pushing into the marine's mouth. James responds in kind, picking Steve up and, as best he can with Steve's mouth glued to his, walks back through the entrance to the observatory.

* * *

**Injury**

"Look, it's fine Sparks!" Tali shoots him a look as she continues to apply medigel to his chest. James hears the ricocheting of bullets from above. The quarian curses, overloading a nearby terminal to distract the Cerberus troopers. James grunts as he climbs to his feet, his shotgun feeling like a hundred pounds as it swings limply from his hand. They stick to the walls, Tali going ahead, her pistol drawn as she whirls around the corners.

"Shepard, Shepard!" Tali's hissing into the comm, trying to keep her voice down. She swings around another corner, and James hears the popping of bullets and the thud of bodies. "Come on Vega, there's a abandoned room up ahead."

James struggles around the corner, his field of vision getting fuzzy. He collapses on the on the nearby chair, struggling to pull his helmet off. He hears Tali talking to Shepard in hushed whispers, fooling with her omni tool.

"Okay, there's at least thirty men on the second floor, there's a cluster of about ten right above the ladder but other than that they're spread out pretty even." Tali's omni tool's interface is blinking with red dots. James hears Shepard's muffled voice from his discarded helmet as Tali begins tapping on her omni tool again.

"Let me see...yes, yes, there's two terminals near the cluster, if I overload the terminals from my omni tool I can give you a window of about ten minutes to get up the ladder and turn off that generator before the other soldiers notice anything." Tali looks up at James briefly before gasping. She whirls around for a few moments before her eyes land on the nearby medical station. She hurries over, pulling out dozens of medigel packets. "Shepard, we've got a problem. Vega's bleeding out, worse than I originally thought. You need to get to that generator and get back here."

Tali rushes over, desperately applying the packets as she continues her conversation with Shepard. James feels a rush of cold before the pressure lessens on his chest. He looks down for the first time, and yeah, that's a pretty big hole in his armor, and oh, that's a pretty big hole in his chest too. Tali pulls his dogtags off, pushing some of the instant packets into the hole.

Tali paused in applying the packets just long enough to activate her omni tool again. "Okay, I'm overloading the terminals in three...two...one, okay Shepard run!"

There's a loud boom from somewhere to their left and Tali helps James behind the counters, dragging the entire medical station with them. James hears the thuds of heavy boots approaching from above, he sees Tali's omni tool starting up it's combat software, and sees the Quarian pull her pistol out, her entire body tense. It's dead silent for a few, long seconds with James' labored breathing being the only sound in the entire room.

Tali's omni tool blinks green, the signal that the software's ready. She pulls a grenade out of her pocket, before tapping a few commands into her omni tool. Tali waits a few minutes until the grenade and the omni tool both blink green. She passes James the remaining medigels, pressing it into his hands while pulling out another grenade. Tali rolls the first grenade under the table, the sounds of boots getting even closer than before. She calibrates the second grenade, rolling it even closer to James' discarded helmet.

"Okay, here's the plan, when the majority of the soldiers enter the room I'll detonate the grenades in a quick 1-2 procedure and then I'll hit the survivors with an overload of the food terminal on the counter." Tali starts tapping on her omni tool again, more blinking indicating that it had linked onto the terminal.

James pauses, pushing another medigel packet into his chest, breathing out in an attempt to slow the pain. "Wait Sparks...we're right underneath the food counter, the terminal will blow us up along with all the troopers!"

"Not if I get your omni tool hooked up to the nearby shield barrier." Tali seamless switches from working on her omni tool to working on James'. "Okay, why do you still have this outdated software? This is going to make this ten times harder unless...yes! I can still wire your omni tool except instead of the Cerberus barrier shield I can link it to the shuttle, I need to radio Cortez, tell him to open up the shuttle's software to link with your omni tool!"

James nods, his entire body feeling like someone had stuck him in an ice bath. His omni tool blinks and glows several times before the interface starts blinking rapidly. A thin pale blue membrane formed around their bodies right as the Cerberus troopers charged into the room. The sound of their boots echoing across the room, fusing together in James' mind to create a pounding sound that seemed to resonate through his entire body. He hears Tali breathing out slowly and it steadies him and right as he's about press the last medigel to his chest the world explodes and the last thing James sees is Shepard's hand waving in front of him.

"Cortez! Get the shuttle to this location now!" The Commander tugs the few medigel he had out of his armor. Gently lifting Tali up out of the rubble he placed her on the ground, applying the medigel in a desperate attempt to counteract the damage her punctured suit would cause. Next he gently tugged James out, piling on the remaining medigel.

"Commander! What the hell happened here?" Cortez's voice sounds panicked and damn Shepard's glad to see Garrus hopping out of shuttle. The turian grabs Tali, carrying her with a certain gentleness that was uncommon to his race.

Carrying James as carefully as possible Shepard hops into the shuttle, ignoring the sharp twinge in his thigh. "Go Cortez, go!"

When they dock on the ship the shuttle is swarmed by medics and Cortez doesn't have an opportunity to even get within sight of James. Instead he's stuck in the gallery nursing a cup of coffee while Garrus throws darts at everything within sight. Steve's heart is beating so fast and he feels so nervous he thinks he may throw up. James was his everything, he was the one who made him laugh, the one who made sure that he was all right, that he wasn't working himself to death. Sure the Commander was the one who prodded him to go to Citadel but it was James who was there every day, who was there for the ups and downs and Steve didn't know if he could go on without him, when Robert had died it had taken all of his strength to move on and he knows, just knows he can't do that with James. James is his everything in a way that no one before him ever was.

"Steve? Dr. Chakwas wants me to give these to you, she figures that you're the one to hold on to them." One of the medical assistants holds out James' dogtags and God, Steve doesn't know what to say so instead he just nods and takes them.

"Any...any news?" Steve finally asks, running his thumb along engraved letters. The assistant shakes her head, placing a hand on Steve's shoulder before turning and leaving. The pilot isn't too sure what to do, Garrus having gone to search for all the darts he'd tossed. Finally he slips the dogtags over his head, letting them settle underneath his shirt.

The next day he finally receives news, the same assistant from before informs him that James made it through and although he's not awake at the moment, Steve can visit him. When Steve enters the med bay he sees James instantly, in the far left hand corner, right next to Tali. Garrus offers up a little wave as he and Steve settle into spots next to Liara and the Commander.

They all sit there in silence, Liara placing little trinkets next to each of their bedsides. A small model of a house for Tali and for James she places a small container of adobo. She smiles almost sheepishly when they all stare at her, explaining that she and Tali had been talking of the house the quarian had wanted to build and that James had always said it was near impossible to find good adobo nowadays.

"Yeah, he always did say that didn't he?" Steve lets out a breathless little laugh, his hand instinctively curling around James' still one. "How did you get it?"

"I had been planning on giving it to him as a way to start a conversation, to make friends with members of the crew." Liara smiles gently, running her fingers along the metal of the beds. "Tali...Tali actually helped me find it, said that it would be a good way to 'break the ice' as you humans say."

They all laugh then and it breaks through the silence, splitting it into hundreds of pieces. There's brief moment of silence before Garrus starts telling a story from his days back in C-Sec and then Shepard tells them about how the Commander found Garrus in Omega and of course Garrus has to add to that one, pointing out the most important parts and next thing they know it's after midnight.

"I should go..." Liara sounds disappointed, her mouth tilted downwards in the closest thing to frown an asari would ever do. "I have so much paperwork...I'll come back tomorrow morning."

"Same, I better calibrate that damn gun, who knows what would happen if I didn't." Garrus grumbles, patting Tali's hand. "Don't worry though, I'll be back."

"I've got an interview with Allers and then one with Admiral Hackett but I'll be back down as soon as I'm done." The Commander squeezes Tali's hand and gently pats James' shoulder. "You going to go back to the shuttle bay or-"

"I'll stay here, don't worry about me Commander, I'm fine." Steve's pretty sure the Commander sees through facade but Shepard just nods, squeezing the pilot's shoulder before departing the Med Bay. It's not until it's just him, Chakwas having gone to bed just a few minutes before the rest of them, that he realizes he's still holding James' hand. He tightens his grip around it, running his fingers along the back of the soldiers' hand.

Steve falls asleep next to James' bedside, and when he wakes up in the morning the Commander's sitting right next to Tali, reading a news article to her still form from a data pad. Garrus comes in moments later, carrying coffee mugs from Steve and the Commander while balancing one of his teas on top. Liara follows him immediately, carrying a stack of data pads and her own drink. They settle in comfortably, Shepard eventually being chosen to go out and find some food. The day passes by comfortably, Steve reading by James' side while Liara did paperwork and Garrus and Shepard played darts.

Several days passed by like this, Liara's stack of data pads growing slightly smaller. Garrus and Shepard start playing poker, betting with a set of chips that Garrus had got the last time they were at the Citadel. Steve's about half way through his book, his right hand constantly inter tangled with the larger man's. They're about one day away from the Citadel when Chakwas says that James should wake up any day now. She says that Tali should wake up soon after, that it was thanks to the geth that she was alive at all.

Steve falls asleep next to James' bed, his head pillowed between his arms. Shepard and Garrus are camped out on the ground with some pillows while Liara was given the only cot, her data pads piled neatly underneath the cot. He feels a large hand on his cheek, a thumb rubbing his cheek bone softly before moving down to his neck. Steve opens his eyes slowly, blinking as James comes into view. The bigger man has somehow pushed himself up slightly and was staring at Steve with a soft expression on his face.

"Hey Esteban...how long have I been out?" James grins, his hand resting on Steve's neck. Steve opens his mouth to respond when his hand feels the chain of his dogtags. He tugs them out from under Steve's shirt, holding them in his big hands.

Steve opens his mouth to explain, to tell James why he had the dogtags in the first place but before he can get a word out James tugs Steve forward by them. James' lips were soft, his hand holding Steve gently in place as if he was afraid the pilot would run. However Steve had no intention of running, instead he hovered over James, making sure not to disturb any of the bigger man's wounds. Eventually he pulls away, settling in at James' side.

"Esteban..." James runs his good hand up Steve's back, the pilot's face tucked into James' neck. "I'd...I'd really like it if you would wear my dog tags."

He feels Steve's smile against his neck, the way he pressed back against James' hand. "I would love to wear your dogtags."

And that said more than anything else every could.

* * *

**Arms**

They're both tangled together in a pile of blankets and pillows, Steve wrapped tightly in James' arms. It's been about a year and a half since London, since the Commander destroyed the Reapers, and the Mass Relays.

It was tough in the beginning, with all of them living in the ruined Normandy in the far corner of England. What was even tougher was remembering the ones who weren't there. The countless crew members that had gone down with the Normandy, the friends that were dead. Garrus had sprained his wrist digging himself out of the engine room but other than that was relatively unharmed. In the initial crash Liara was only bruised but in her rescue of the unconscious Tali she got burned on her left side. Allers managed to get not only herself but also Donnelly and Daniels out of the collapsed cargo hold despite Donnelly bleeding out from his shoulder. Traynor, Traynor got the worst of it. She was flung across the ship, landing in a crumpled pile in front of the door to the cockpit. She forced herself up, despite the extreme amount of pain she was in, and forced open the door. Stumbling into the cockpit, she walked in on Joker desperately shaking EDI's now still body. Traynor begged and pleaded with him to leave with her but the pilot refused to leave the AI. So eventually Traynor had to pull him away from EDI, his disease making her stronger despite her injuries. Yet the struggle made her injuries worse, and they would have been stuck if Garrus hadn't shown up when he did.

They all met up directly outside the crashed Normandy, Liara carrying Tali while Gabby was attempting to stop Ken's bleeding and Garrus was supporting Traynor. They were talking about what to do when they heard a familiar voice. James and Steve came limping over the hill, James supporting the injured pilot, however he too looked as if he'd seen better days.

So together they all decided to stay with the Normandy. They all file into back into the ship, and everyone except Garrus and James stay in the cockpit. Liara asks if they could look for a oxygen mask and the air sterilizer in the Med Bay because despite the geth's assistance, Tali was still dying because of Earth's atmosphere. So Garrus and James head down into the Crew's quarter, James leading the way. They decide to go into the Med Bay first so they can find the air mask for Tali and discover that Dr. Chakwas was still alive. After a joyful, yet brief reunion the doctor agreed to bring the mask and the air sterilizer up to Tali and she would begin treating the others as best she could without the Med Bay.

They go through the entire ship, calling out for survivors. There aren't any, and farther down they go, the less hopeful they get. Soon they start carrying the bodies up, it's a little tough with Garrus only having one hand and James having sliced his leg open on the fallback from Harbinger's blast. Yet they make it work, and eventually the bodies from engineering and the crew deck were laid out on the ground. They turned back into the Normandy to see Liara, Dr. Chakwas and the others (minus Traynor, Tali and Joker of course) standing there carrying bodies.

So they worked all day, Liara picking out the tombstones and carving out the names on each one. By midnight, all the bodies had been buried and Liara had laid the tombstones on each one. They all stood there for a moment, their heads down as they took in the graves around them. Garrus led them back in, James and Steve lagging behind, the bigger man's arm wrapped around Steve's shoulders.

When they get back into the ship, the group heads down into the crew quarters, each person collecting up blankets, pillows and even mattresses. They all go back up to the Command Center and despite the close quarters, they all squeeze into the cockpit without question. In the short time that Garrus and James were looking for survivors Dr. Chakwas had completely taken over the cockpit. She moved the rubble as best she could, and had placed Tali in Joker's old seat with the Quarian's face covered by the oxygen mask. The doctor also bandaged up Traynor to the best of her ability, yet she told Garrus in a hushed voice that she needed the medical supplies that were in her office in order to really help the young woman. Donnelly's shoulder was taped up, and Liara's burns were already looking better.

Yet the most important change that Chakwas had made was that she had convinced Joker to move EDI's body. She told him that they were going to need the chair for the others to sleep and he agreed, settling down next to EDI despite Chakwas pleads for him to take one of the chairs.

Eventually everyone gives up trying to get Joker to move back onto the chair and instead begin to pile pillows and blankets onto the chairs and the window ledges. Chakwas tosses everyone an apple, telling them that tomorrow breakfast would be different.

James and Steve take one of the window ledges, James wrapping Steve up in his arms and burying his face in the pilot's neck. They just lay there for hours, Steve just oh so grateful that they're alive, that James came back to him, that they made it through.

Tali wakes up three weeks later, and by that time they've gotten most of the rubble cleaned up and not only has Chakwas got the medical bay working but she's also managed to get the gallery up and running. Tali begins asking questions, hundreds of them. They all try to answer them as best they can, Chakwas tells her yes, her immune system is continuing to improve so she won't need to wear that mask forever and no, they don't know why all the synthetics just stopped working but it happened right after the Reapers began to fall out of the sky and yes, Ken and Gabby are all right, they're the ones who got everything running again. Then it's time for the bad news. Adams is dead, he was dead when Liara got down to help Tali and no, they haven't been able to tear Joker away from EDI's body, nothing they do is working and they're at their wits end.

Then, two months after they crashed, Shepard appears on the horizon. Tali's the one who sees the Commander as she's out gathering fruit. Shepard wobbles for a minute before collapsing on the ground. By the time Tali makes it over, Shepard's barely breathing it was only through Tali's ingenious integration of her and Shepard's omni tool did the Commander even make it. And that wasn't even the beginning of it. Shepard floated in and out of consciousness, Tali's constant modifications to his omni tool combined with Dr. Chakwas' treatment became the only things that were keeping the Commander alive. By this point everyone's paired off in various rooms, James and Steve are sharing the cockpit, and despite everything, Steve always feels safe when he's wrapped in James' arms.

Eventually they make contact with the other survivors, Gabby and Ken finally managing to get a radio working. So eventually they leave the Normandy, Shepard reluctantly accepting the role of the galaxy's leader. Everyone else agrees to help and soon things are moving along at a decent pace.

Steve and James move into a the complex on base. It's not much, the kitchen's tiny, the living room and bedroom are practically the same room and the bathroom is smaller than it was on the Normandy. But it's a home and right now, that's more than enough for them. They spend most of their free time relaxing, James' arms wrapped tightly around Steve's waist as he reads aloud from various books, pamphlets or really anything they can get their hands on.

And even though this wasn't the happily ever after Steve was expecting, it doesn't matter. He's safe in James' arms, and everything else will work itself out.

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**A/N: Well, it's done! Read and Review... Feedback is always welcome! I'm thinking of doing another chapter...review! :)**


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